Regrets
by Skylark Evanson
Summary: Ben leaned on the counter of the bar, putting both his elbows on it. "What was the final straw?"


**A/N: This came to mind and I really loved it. Here you go. Based in 5 years in the future from UA.**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

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Ben was perched on the barstool in the darkest corner of the room. It was where he and Kevin liked to hang out the most in comparison to the better lit areas. He knew his friend hated light most of the time. The brunette Tennyson sometimes wondered if the Osmosian was also some sort of vampire.

"Hey," said Kevin as he plopped himself onto the seat right next to Ben. "What'd ya get?"

"The hard stuff," he said as two glasses slid down the table towards them. Ben, sitting closer to the doors and Kevin perfectly in the corner where he couldn't be seen by anyone that wasn't looking, stopped the glasses before they tipped and he passed one to his best friend. "I know what you like, Kev. We've been here a few too many times lately." He gave a weak smile.

The darker barely managed a chuckle. "Benji, trust me, I'll be here a lot more now." He took a swig of the shot and let the fire blaze down his throat. Kevin knew it'd ruin him one day and he didn't care. He liked the pain it sent through his body. "Especially with Gwen leaving me and all." He rested his head against the wall he was leaned against, one elbow on the bar with the glass in hand. "She's takin' the apartment and everything."

"Damn," breathed Ben, his hazy gaze not directed on Kevin, but at the pole beside him. He knew staring at Kevin sometimes made him aggressive. "She can be a bitch sometimes."

"Pfft," said Kevin, actually managing a halfhearted smile and a little more of a snicker. His best friend almost always had a way to cheer him up. "You're preachin' to the choir, Tennyson. You don't gotta tell me twice. I know how your cousin is. I lived with her for two years already." One hand went through his raven-colored hair.

Ben leaned on the counter of the bar, putting both his elbows on it. "What was the final straw?"

Kevin's lips twisted into a smirk as his obsidian eyes twinkled. "When she decided that all my tech in the closets had to go." He tilted his head back against the wall so he stared at the ceiling for a long time. "And when I told her she was bitching at me too much. And when she smacked me with a frying pan." He hit the counter and just nodded towards the bartender. He was there too often. This place was too good and he liked it too much to skip out on another night with some drinks and Ben. "We've been going too long. She gave up on me."

"She gave up on me ten years ago," laughed Ben as Kevin's drink slid right past him. "Don't be too surprised that she was done with you so soon. It's been… What? Six years?"

Kevin just nodded, fingering his long ebony locks. "Yup. Six years of my life wasted on a red-haired beauty." He threw down another shot. It was flames blazing down his throat, burning him from the inside out. "Fuck her."

Ben couldn't help the smile that possessed him. No one would smack talk Gwen except for Kevin. And when Kevin was smack talking his fiancé, it was the bad kind of stuff. Ben liked hearing someone stand up to Gwen that wasn't afraid to be hit or murdered afterwards. "I'm with ya on that. She's a bitch most of the time."

"Seconded," chuckled Kevin, putting his feet on the rungs of Ben's barstool. He let his muscles go numb as the alcohol began to slowly shut down his inhibitions. "You know what? I was in love with her so long that maybe being with her kinda drove me away from her…? Does that make any sense?"

"Not at all," laughed Ben as the bartender slid another drink past him and down to Kevin. "But then again, when have you ever made sense?"

"Back when I was young and gorgeous. Oh wait, I would still be making sense then, now wouldn't I be?" He pulled his gaze from the boring ceiling and stared at the people in the bar. He watched the other men talking and saw a few freaks trying to get a lady through force, but Kevin wouldn't step in unless totally necessary. "So anyways, off of my fucked up love life and onto yours. How's that little Asian chick you got?"

The brunette Tennyson shrugged for a long moment. "Julie left last month to stay in a hotel after we fought for a while, but she hasn't come back yet. I'm thinking we're over, but the door's still open if she decides to come back, you know?" Ben eyed his friend carefully. He was practically hidden by shadows, but he could still see his glittering eyes in the darkness. "I'm willing to take her back and stuff. She hasn't done anything wrong. It's always going to be my fault, so why bother chasing her if it doesn't matter?"

"Wish your cousin would think that way," said Kevin with a soft smile on his lips.

"Gwen's cruel and heartless. We can't do a thing about it." Ben tapped on the table and the bartender began to prepare a beer for him instead of the hard shots that Kevin was taking. The hero hated the burning, but he tolerated at least a little bit of it for Kevin's sake. "She doesn't know how good she's got it and once you're gone, she'll miss you." The corner of his eye caught Kevin's hopeful expression before it faded into the darkness once more.

"Let's swat down those hopes before they become reality," snickered Kevin, once again downing a shot in one quick gulp. He had grown to enjoy the fire that raced down his esophagus. He liked the burning. It took his mind away from other pains. "She won't take me back and I'll be living in my car for a while." He set the glass down on the table harder than he meant to, making the glass go _clunk!_ against the hard wood of the table.

"Do you have any regrets?" asked Ben. He drew a smiley face in the condensation of the glass. "About Gwen and all that?"

A sigh slipped from Kevin. "I wish..." He stared at the empty shot glass, not wanting to look at his friend and show how upset he really was. "I wish I could've been better to her. I know I could've tried harder and I could've put on a better face and I could've done a billion things right, but I didn't do nothin' about it." He wanted another shot, but his head was already fuzzy enough from all the drinks he had downed a minute ago. "I screwed up and I have a hundred regrets." His face turned back to the small crowd of people out in the bar's main area. "Don't we all?"

Ben turned his head to look at Kevin with his jade eyes. A friendly smile was planted on his face. He decided to change the subject; Ben could easily tell that Kevin was getting out of his comfort zone. "My place is always open. I got the pullout couch and everything if you need it, Kev." He took another short sip from his beer.

The Osmosian knew not to turn any offers down like that. He knew Ben was his best friend and that he'd never find another friend like him. And there had been more than one fight where he had had to camp out at Ben's house. The couch had actually become a second home to Kevin in the past year. "Thanks, Ben."

"It's what friends do in hard times like this." He kept at his beer while Kevin downed another shot. The two didn't know it, but they would spend a lot more time at the bar.

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**A/N: I like how this turned out. Review please! Thanks!**

**~Sky**


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